March 28, 2014

Sometimes you forget just how much you love a painting. After looking at so many, those that are most beautiful can easily slip from your mind. The other day I was wandering the MFA in Boston with a friend, when this gorgeous woman appeared in my vision.

A Capriote, John Singer Sargent

I have seen this painting many times and make a point to visit her when I am in Boston, but my mind’s eye had forgotten her. I love the way she is draped across the branch, as if she were a dress hung while the woman was taking a dip in the river. She becomes part of the landscape; she appears to be a part of the tree with the stump becoming a limb to her.

The palate and painterly application create this dreamscape. The lack of saturation in the palate creates a hazy space, a dreamy space. The expression on the young woman’s face is that of a day dreamer. Because she is at a distance from us, she eludes us. She is out of reach. Does she see us? Is she smirking at us or at a thought of her own? Is she even real? She is the gatekeeper of the dreamworld. The flowers in the foreground are the doorway. Will you enter?